Teams were given their MyTopo maps at 5:30 this morning and started to plan their race. The first glance at the course has teams wide -eyed and excited.

“It’s going to be a day,” said Jim Mernin of NYARA/Tripolar, to which race director Chris Yager of GMARA quipped “Day and a half!”

The course will go up and down the Green Mountains and feature a ton of off-trail navigation.

“The course is much more technical than last year’s [National Championship] course,” said Michael Cherubini of Cherubini Brothers AR. The 2022 race was in Bishop, CA, and started with teams trekking to the top of Mammoth Mountain before bombing down the mountain bike trails. This year, the teams will ride their bikes through the famous Smuggler’s Notch, so named for the smuggling of goods to Canada after President Jefferson passed an embargo act forbidding trade with Great Britain and Canada.

Teams are being bused to the starting line where the race will kick off at 9 am!

Follow the dots by Enabled Tracking: https://live.enabledtracking.com/usara2023/